Project 1: Video/DVD Analysis

For this project, I will be using a YouTube Video named What is the Armenian Genocide? Its by a

channel named AlternateHistoryHub. Heres a link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSchiqWIB6g&t=107s

That said, lets get started with a short summary of the video. The video basically explains what

the Armenian Genocide was and why its significant today. This video also provides some interesting

sociological perspectives and shows how society today is shaped by the events that happened over 100

years ago. So, what was the Armenian Genocide? On April 24th, 1915, a genocide of the Armenian

people started. The Ottoman Empire massacred approximately 1.5 million Armenians, which was more

than half of the entire Armenian population back then. The reason for this massacre was both strategical

and political for the Ottoman Empire. They saw Armenians as a threat and wanted all of them banished,

effectively taking their land in the process. This mentality led to the genocide and impacted the

Armenian people forever. This was a very significant event and is still remembered today because it

shaped the future of Armenia. Today, there are about 10 million Armenians and Armenia owns

significantly less land than it did 100 years ago. The video recognizes the fact that its important to

recognize the Armenian genocide, so that the Armenian people can come to some sort of peace and

move forward with their history and culture. In summary, this video does an amazing job explaining the

events of the Armenian genocide and showing how society today may be impacted by what happened

all that time ago. There is quite a lot of sociological aspects involved here and thats why this was a great

video to choose for my project.

Now we will look at the 3 main sociological perspectives, and how they would interpret this

video. Firstly, lets talk about Marx and the Social Conflict Perspective, and analyze how its interpreted

in the video. The Social Conflict theory is a type of macro-analysis Marxist-based social theory that states
that society is a complex system where society is characterized by inequality and conflict. When this

happens, social change is generated as well. In Marxs theory, he talks about how the strong control the

weak and how there is competition for resources. This is exactly whats represented in this video and

the way that the Social Conflict Perspective is interpreted is the fact that Turkey, being the stronger

power, took advantage and controlled Armenia, which was the weaker power. The competition for land

and political advantage was the reason for this massacre and thats exactly why the Social Conflict

Perspective is represented and viewed in this video.

Next, we will look at the Functionalist Perspective, as described by Comte and Durkheim. The

Functionalist Perspective is a type of macro-analysis perspective thats concerned with the relationship

between parts of society, and how aspects of society are adaptive. The theory also states that society is

complex system, but it is made of parts that work together to create a balance and stability for society.

Durkheim states that Functionalism emphasizes social equilibrium and that if something unstable

happens, society must balance it out to achieve a sort of stable state. He also states that society is

analyzed based on functions and parts, where no one part can work without the others and they all

must work together to create society. This viewpoint is also interpreted in the video. You can see that

regarding the Armenian genocide, all countries and societies must come together and accept the

genocide for balance to be restored. Now, we are at an unbalanced state because of the genocide, but

however many years it may take, for us to restore the balance and restore equilibrium, the genocide

must be accepted. Finally, we will analyze the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective. This perspective is a

sort of micro-analysis perspective which focuses on symbols and face to face interactions. This

perspective states that society is a product of every day interactions. How we interact determines that

shape of society. You can also clearly see this use of symbols and interactions in the video. The

Armenian and Turkish people were neighbors, living together, interacting on a day to day bases. This

interaction led to the events that happened, the symbols and beliefs that Armenia stood for, including
their religion, was one of the many reasons why the genocide took place. This symbolism and

sociological interaction caused the genocide and this is how the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective is

interpreted in this video.

The paradigm that is most represented in the video that I chose is the Social Conflict

Perspective. This is very clear to me because Marxs theory of social conflict and the paradigm is all over

the video. The video mostly talks about how Social Conflict between Armenia and Turkey led to the

genocide. This misunderstanding and hatred towards the Armenian people was the reason why Turkey

attacked Armenia. Whether the reason was political or strategic, whether they did it because of the land

or because of religion, one thing is sure, and thats the fact that there was social conflict between the

two sides. Again, this was exactly the reason why the genocide happened and this is exactly whats

represented in the Social Conflict Paradigm and in Marxs theory. Karl Marx talks about how society

interacts based on conflict rather than consensus, that the future of society is shaped on conflict. He

also says that the strong will use their power to take advantage of the weak. Everything about the Social

Conflict paradigm is directly affiliated with this video and the events of the Armenian genocide. Social

conflict between two nations, the strong taking advantage of the weak, and the future of society, and in

this case the future of Armenia basically being decided by this social conflict that happened over 100

years ago. This is the Social Conflict Perspective at its best example and this is why it is represented most

in this video.